Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka was delighted by his side's character and resilience following the 5-5 draw at Aston Villa this evening.

Forest led three times and were behind with ten men during a crazy contest at Villa Park and Karanka was thrilled to see his players show spirit in the face of adversity to claim a valuable point against Dean Smith's in-form side.

Karanka said after the game: "On days like these you can be proud of your players. It is not a day to talk about tactics or mistakes, it is a day to talk about the personality and commitment of the players at the end of a crazy game.

"We've played against a fantastic team in front of 32,000 people and we were still attacking even with ten men. It was difficult to enjoy the game because something was always happening and I kept having to work out what to do next.

"I'm exhausted but all the credit must go to the players, they were brilliant. Now we have to rest and think about the game on Saturday because as amazing as we were tonight, we have to focus on Ipswich straight away."

Forest raced into a two-goal lead but were soon pegged back and despite taking the lead on two other occasions, they had to fight back from being 5-4 down after a red card for Tobias Figueiredo, leaving Karanka pleased with a point.

He said: "Winning 2-0 is always the most dangerous score because you are more relaxed and after they equalised it became like a tennis match. For me the main thing is that we competed away from home against one of the biggest clubs in the league.

"I think it is the first time in my career that my team has conceded five goals but the character we showed to fight back was amazing. We knew Aston Villa had some weaknesses so we tried to exploit them as we went forwards.

"The fourth official said Tobias's red card was clear so it is one of those things. We have to accept that decision and move on to Saturday's game."